To understand the Warriors completion of a 16-1 playoff run and their second NBA championship in three years, you need to go back to their collapse in last year’s finals. Sports Illustrated’s Lee Jenkins does a great job taking you back to that moment, and explaining how it led to Kevin Durant powering the Warriors to a championship season. This is the story of the text that started the Warriors’ dynasty. “And so, at that locker, in that uniform, less than an hour after the most excruciating loss of his life, Green punched up Kevin Durant’s number. ‘See what we’re missing,’ Green says, recounting the text message he sent Durant. ‘We need you. Make it happen.’ Green had been courting Durant for months, but this was his strongest pitch yet, delivered at the most dramatic juncture. ‘Right after you lose Game 7.'”

+ FiveThirtyEight: How the Warriors duped the NBA. (The Finals was a hard fought display of grit, and tempers often flared. But in the end, LeBron and the Cavs hugged the Warriors and showed great sportsmanship. That’s why I let my kids watch NBA but not C-Span.)